Hi. Griffiths et Rk. Butlin, A TIMESCALE FOR SEX VERSUS PARTHENOGENESIS - EVIDENCE FROM SUBFOSSIL OSTRACODS, Proceedings - Royal Society. Biological Sciences, 260(1357), 1995, pp. 65-71
Parthenogenetic and sexual reproduction co-occur in many animals. In s
uch groups, determination of the timescale over which parthenogenetic
lineages can persist and provide an advantage over sexual reproduction
is of considerable importance, as the adoption of either reproductive
mode will confer various, but conflicting, adaptational advantages. D
ata derived from a survey of ostracod valves preserved in 34 Holocene
freshwater sediment cores suggest that environmental fluctuations duri
ng a period of less than 5000 years were sufficient to provide an adva
ntage to sexually reproducing ostracods over parthenogenetic forms. In
addition, asexual species were found not to have colonized water bodi
es earlier than sexual forms, nor to have persisted for longer. When v
iewed over timescales such as these, subfossil Ostracoda offer little
support for the 'general purpose genotype' hypothesis of parthenogenes
is, and also suggest that the short-term costs of sexual reproduction
are rapidly outweighed by its advantages in a changing environment.